


Let It Snow

by starrywrite



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Christmas, Dan and Phil are ho ho hos, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, One Night Stands, confession time there's actually no smut in this but there's references to the sex throughout, past depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrywrite/pseuds/starrywrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Filed under ‘A One Night Stand Gone <strike>Not So</strike> Horribly Wrong’ in which Dan and Phil meet at a bar on Christmas Eve and head back to Dan’s flat for an adult slumber party - which extends into the next day when they discover that they’re snowed in and Phil can’t leave, forcing these two strangers to spend Christmas together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let It Snow

**Author's Note:**

> *marcus butler voice* helloooooo~ so here is yet another holiday fic from yours truly B) my mom forced me to watch a movie called Two Night Stand (which was actually better than expected.jpg) and that’s what inspired this fic! ^_^ it’s more of an unconventional christmas story, to say the least, but i really enjoyed writing it and i hope you enjoy reading it!!

Dan awakes at half past ten, far too early for him on a normal basis but especially far to early after the night he had last night. He arches his back as he extends his arms above his head and stretches, his duvet sliding off of him in the process and he shivers. He forgot to turn the heat on before going to bed and his flat is _freezing_. Grasping his covers, he rolls over, pulling them over his shoulder, and he presses himself up against the body next to him, hiding his face in the crook of their neck and sighing contently as he steals their body heat. 

Not a second passes before his eyes open wide with shock and he jolts up because _holy shit, there’s someone in bed with him_. 

Pulling his blanket up to cover his exposed body, not that it would matter at this point because he’s pretty sure he and this handsome stranger hooked up last night - meaning this guy has seen his dick so Dan shouldn’t be too concerned about him seeing his stomach - and he takes a moment to wrack his brain and remember the events that took place the night before. He remembers Fireball Whiskey, and a lot of it. He remembers obsidian hair in a haircut similar to his own, and thinking that they had to be soulmates - he remembers a lot more Fireball had influenced that thought. He remembers beautiful blue eyes. He remembers soft hands, and bruises on his hips. He remembers sloppy kisses, and tangled limbs. He remembers a name - Phil - and he isn’t sure if he’s pulled that out of his ass or if his name is actually Phil, but until he wakes up, he’s going with it. 

Dan slides out of bed quietly to dress himself, and then sits perched on the edge of his mattress. A few moments of Dan awkwardly waiting for Phil to wake up before he finally stirs, and he holds his breath as Phil rolls over so he’s lying on his stomach, stretching as he wakes up. Dan tries in vain to tear his eyes away from the other man’s shoulders, his back, his barely exposed hips as the blanket slides down and entangles itself around his legs but he fails. 

“Morning,” he finally blurts out, probably much louder than he needs to.

Phil blinks a few times, running his fingers through his hair before he rolls back over and sits up. “Hi,” he stifles a yawn as he turns to look at Dan. 

Dan smiles a him a little, but doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t know what _to_ say to him. This is the worst part about a one night stand - the morning after. Usually, he tries to avoid this awkward exchange as much as possible - he didn’t bring someone home to talk, all he wanted was to fuck. But still, Dan is far too nice for his own good so he can’t stop himself before he asks, “Would you like some coffee?” 

“No thank you,” Phil replies, and Dan is secretly thankful. “I’ll just get going, yeah?” 

“Okay.” Dan is silent as Phil gets dressed and gathers his things, screwing around on his phone to avoid watching him anymore than he already has. 

Once he’s dressed, Phil leans over and presses a kiss to Dan’s cheek, which makes him jump a little in surprise. Phil smirks at him, as if that’s the cutest thing he’s seen all day, and he says, “Merry Christmas,” before exiting Dan’s room.

* * *

Phil finds his jacket discarded on Dan’s living room floor and as he goes to pick it up, he glances out of the window and notices that it’s snowing. It makes him smile a little; he’s always wanted a white Christmas. Once his jacket is shrugged on, he goes to leave Dan’s apartment and he bumps into an older man in the hallway. “Oh, sorry,” he apologizes. 

“That’s okay,” the man says. He looks Phil up and down and with a sympathetic smile he says, “I hope you didn’t have any plans today.”

“Why?” Phil asks slowly. 

“Storm hit last night, and the entire building is snowed in,” he explains. 

Phil bites his lip. “Um, how bad is it?” he asks. Surely he should be able to leave, right? It can’t be so bad as to -

“No one can get out of the building,” the man - who he assumes has to be Dan’s landlord - says. 

_‘Fuck,’_

“At least,” he continues. “Not until we can get someone to come out here and dig us out, but the snow is pretty deep. I’d say we’re all stuck in here for the rest of the day.”

_‘Well,’_ Phil thinks bitterly. _‘This is what you get for wanting a white Christmas.’_

The landlord, or whoever the bearer of bad news is, excuses himself to go tell the rest of the tenants about the situation, and Phil just stands there in the hallway for a moment. This isn’t his home, he doesn’t live here, and he’s only known Dan for one night - if you can even count a one night stand as “knowing” somebody; he can’t just go back into his flat and expect him to let him stay, can he? Phil considers his options - he can either spend an awkward day with a man he just hooked up with and had no intention of seeing again after last night, or he can sit in the cold hallway for the rest of the day. 

He decides to take his chances with Dan and he lets himself back into his flat. 

“Oh,” Dan says, clearly surprised when Phil walks back in. “Hello again.”

“Hi.” Phil offers a sheepish smile and awkwardly stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Um, I know I left and you’re probably wondering why I’m back - 

“Only a little,” Dan cuts in. 

“Right,” Phil nods. “Uh basically it stormed last night, and now the entire building is snowed in, and no one can get out.”

Dan blinks in response. “Oh,” is all he says.

“Sorry,” Phil says.

“Don’t apologize; it isn’t your fault,” Dan insists. “Um…” he rakes a hand through hair, chewing on his bottom lip. “Well clearly I’m not going to kick you out,” he finally says and Phil feels relief wash over him. “You can stay here.”

“Thank you,” Phil tells him sincerely. “And really, I’m sorry about this.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Dan says again. “You can’t control the weather.” 

Phil shrugs a little, and then he blurts out, “Well, I have always wanted to be a weatherman.” He winces after he says that; why doesn’t he have the slightest bit of a filter? This day is going to be awkward enough, he doesn’t need to add to it with the weird things he says.

Dan raises an eyebrow, but his lips quiver as if he’s trying to stifle a laugh. “Even if you were a weatherman, you wouldn’t be able to control the weather.”

“No,” Phil chuckles. “But at least I’d be able to inform everyone that there was going to be a storm so don’t go out and have sex.”

“Truth be told, having sex on Christmas Eve isn’t the best idea in the first place,” Dan points out.

“Yeah,” Phil agrees, then he hesitates for a moment before saying, “I don’t regret it though.”

Dan doesn’t say anything at first, but then he smiles shyly at Phil and he says, “Me either.” The two of them don’t say anything after this, another awkward silence falling over the pair of them, and Dan breaks it by asking, “So about that coffee?”

Phil grins at him. “I’d love some.”

* * *

_This is weird_ , that’s the first thing Dan thinks as he and Phil sit next to each other on his couch. Neither of them know what to say, as the only thing they really know about each other are how big their penises are and what they sound like when they’re moaning in ecstasy. And since neither of them expected to see each other again after last night it’s making this whole situation even more weird. 

Dan glances over at Phil; his clothes from last night are wrinkled, his plaid shirt unbuttoned and sliding off of one of his shoulders. His eyes are focused on his coffee mug, which is empty now and Dan wonders if he wants some more but is too shy to ask, or if he’s simply satisfied with one cup of coffee. He takes a bit of pity on him, this has got to be just as weird for him especially since _he’s_ the one being forced to stay at a stranger’s house. He probably feels like he’s putting Dan out or something that is entirely untrue because even though it is Christmas, it’s not like Dan had any plans anyway. 

Regardless, he decides to be a good host and try to make Phil feel more at home for the day. “You know you’re probably going to be here for a while,” he starts.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” It’s the third time Phil has apologized today for something that is out of his control completely. 

“Don’t be sorry,” Dan tells him. “But I was just pointing that out because I figured you’d want to take a shower or something and put on some more comfortable clothes - which you can. My bathroom’s right down the hall and we look about the same size, you can borrow something from me.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” Phil starts to protest.

“Dude, I insist,” Dan says. “I want you to be comfortable.”

“I’m fine,” Phil tells him but Dan isn’t buying it. No one is ‘fine’ hungover, post one night stand, and in the same clothes they wore to a bar the night before. Science just does not allow for it. 

“Consider it a Christmas present then,” Dan tries. “The gift of a shower.”

Phil smirks a little, and Dan thinks it’s really attractive for a second, but then considers that maybe he shouldn’t trust the look on his face because it looks like he’s about to say something devious. “I thought your dick was your Christmas present to me,” he replies.

Dan was always a good judge of character.

He blushes furiously and throws one of his nerdy couch pillows at Phil, stuttering, “Go take a fucking shower.” He clears his throat and more clearly says, “You smell like sweat and cum.” 

Phil laughs loudly at that, shaking his head a little, but ultimately gets up from the couch and heads to the bathroom. Dan helps him work the shower and then finds him some underwear - which Phil protested against at first, but Dan smacked him with it until he agreed to accept it - sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie in case he gets cold to wear for the time being. He then gathers up Phil’s clothes from yesterday and throws them in his washing machine, and while Phil showers, Dan fills up his coffee cup. 

* * *

Phil emerges from his shower, a towel in his hands as he dries his hair. He’s wearing a pair of Dan’s sweatpants, one of his t-shirts, and his Manchester University hoodie - something that he feels he certainly should not be wearing, because it’s weird enough wearing a stranger’s clothing but a university sweatshirt is personal. He feels very strange right now, but he does feel much more comfortable than he did a couple of minutes ago. 

“Hello you,” Dan says to him as he enters the room, and there’s something about the way he says it and the fact that Phil’s wearing his clothes that makes his entire situation far too domestic for his liking - but it does make his stomach feel like it had been recently inhabited with butterflies. “Feeling better after your shower?”

“Loads, thanks again for letting me use your shower,” Phil says, taking a seat on the couch next to Dan. “And thanks for the hoodie by the way,” Phil tells him looking down at red sweatshirt. “You went to Manchester Uni, that’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Dan says with a nod.

“Do you still go there?” Phil asks, because Dan looks far too young to have graduated already, but he’s certain he’s not a freshman - or at least, he hopes he didn’t hook up with a freshman. “Are you, like, on a semester break now?”

“I, uh - actually I dropped out of uni,” Dan admits, then quickly adds, “But I paid a year's worth of tuition fees, so I’m entitled to the damn hoodie.”

“You definitely are,” Phil quickly agrees, not wanting to upset him. “I’m sorry if I brought up a touchy subject.”

Dan sighs a little. “It’s not a big deal,” he says. “People can just be real twats when they find out you dropped out of uni; like I’m lazy or stupid, or something ridiculous like that. Because it’s not true.”

“Why did you drop out?” Phil asks, then stops himself because this is not a first date and he isn’t entitled to knowing such personal things about Dan. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want,” he adds. “I was just wondering.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Dan says and then he sighs again. “I, um, I was really depressed because I hated my major and I didn’t know what I was doing with my life, and being at uni was just really bad for my mental health so I just,” he shrugs a little. “Dropped out.”

Phil pauses for a moment, taking all of this in. He didn’t expect Dan to tell him something so personal, especially not to someone he had just met the prior evening. “Are you okay now?” he asks.

Dan smiles a little, probably just for Phil’s sake. “I’m better,” is all he says.

“I’m glad,” Phil tells him. He pauses again, then says, “You know, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, as long as you know that you aren’t stupid. Because you certainly are not.” And he isn’t just saying that to be nice; he genuinely thinks Dan is rather intelligent. He remembers their conversation at the bar last night and he doesn’t think he’s ever had such a stimulating conversation with someone before - and at a bar, nevertheless. 

“How can you say that?” Dan asks him. “You barely know me.”

“Well you took me home, you can’t be entirely dense,” Phil jokes, and Dan laughs a little, rolling his eyes. “In all seriousness, you aren’t stupid, okay?” Phil tells him. “Dropping out of uni doesn’t make you lazy or stupid, and I don’t want you thinking that you are just because of a couple of twats.”

Dan opens his mouth to say something, but shuts it, clearly at a loss of words for the time being. “What do you care, though?” he finally asks, and then once again he says, “You barely know me.” 

And it’s true, Phil doesn’t know really anything about Dan other than the few things he’s learned about him between their first meeting yesterday and now. “So that means I can’t care about you at all?” he asks him, “Because I barely know you?”

Dan hesitates. “I don’t know.” he finally says. “None of my one night stands ever end up like this.”

Phil smiles a little. “Neither have mine, so I’m just as clueless as you are.” 

The brunet exhales slowly. “Well since both of us are entirely clueless about how to go about a two night stand,” he starts. “Why don’t we continue getting to know each other?” 

“Yeah, I like that idea,” Phil says with a smile. 

Dan smiles back at him. “Okay, well I just opened up about myself,now it’s your turn to tell me something about yourself.”

“Okay, um,” Phil pauses in thought, trying to come up with something good to tell Dan but his mind has gone blank. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he admits because he really doesn’t; he’s truly a very uninteresting person. 

“Alright, well how about I ask you some questions?” Dan suggests. Phil nods in agreement, and Dan goes ahead with his first question, “Why were you in a bar on Christmas Eve in the first place?” 

Phil immediately shakes his head, trying not to let it show that his heart has immediately dropped at Dan’s words. “No dice,” he says. “Sorry, but you haven’t known me long enough to unlock my tragic backstory.”

Dan raises his eyebrows. “Tragic backstory, eh?” he asks. “So something bad must’ve happened to you.”

“Don’t bother guessing,” Phil says simply. “You won’t figure it out, and I’m not telling.”

* * *

“Can I ask you something?” Phil asks later in the day.

“Go for it,” Dan replies. 

“Okay, no offense, but why is your flat so depressing?” Phil asks, looking around the living room, unable to keep the look of judgement off of his face as he takes in a room of absolutely zero Christmas decorations - Dan doesn’t even have a tree up!

“Excuse me?” Dan asks him.

“It’s so un-Christmassy in here!” Phil exclaims. “I don’t even see an advent calendar lying around!”

Dan shrugs a little. “I was too preoccupied to decorate this year,” he says. “And recently, I haven’t really been in the Christmas spirit.”

“Wow, who broke your heart?” Phil teases him, and he expects Dan to laugh and roll his eyes, but he falls silent, not meeting Phil’s eyes. Phil’s jaw drops a little. “Oh my gosh, someone broke your heart?” he asks.

“No comment,” Dan says, gathering up their coffee mugs from this morning as a means of distraction. “You can unlock my tragic backstory when I unlock yours.” 

Phil doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t want to press the subject, but he can’t deny that he’s dying to know what happened to Dan. Still, he doesn’t press the subject and he doesn’t want things to be awkward now that the two of them have just started getting comfortable with each other. “Do you at least have a Christmas tree?” he asks. 

“I do have a tree,” Dan says from the kitchen, raising his voice to be heard over the running sink water as he rinses out the coffee mugs.

Phil gets up to his feet. “Brilliant, where’s it at?”

“Um,” Dan turns off the water and joins Phil once again in the living room. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“We’re going to decorate your flat,” Phil decides with a wide smile. 

“Why?” Dan asks, and this time Phil is the one to roll his eyes.

“Why?” he repeats. “Why not! For one, what else are we going to do while we’re snowed in here? And for two, your flat is severely lacking in Christmas decorations; honestly, I can feel my Christmas spirit draining the longer I stand in this tragically undecorated room.”

Dan bites his lip to stifle a laugh.

“So,” Phil presses. “About that tree?” 

Dan sighs a little, but there’s something about Phil that’s just so _endearing_ and he can’t help but to smile at him. He’s so insanely sweet and genuine and initially, Dan wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to spend the day with his one night stand, but now that he’s gotten to know Phil more, he’s happy to be spending time with him. Phil is unlike anyone he’s ever met before and he’s glad that out of everyone at the bar, Phil was the one that he brought home.

He leads Phil to one of the spare rooms in his flat, where his Christmas tree is propped up in the corner abandoned and lacking in decorations and Phil just shakes his head sadly. “Alright, lets get to work,” he says, rubbing his hands together before taking a step towards the tree and wrapping his arms around it in an attempt to haul it out of Dan’s spare room. With an exaggerated sigh, Dan goes over to help him and the two manage to get the tree in the living room. 

Dan goes back to his spare room to get all of his decorations, quickly removing the “his and her” baubles and discarding them in a bin before returning to Phil, and the two of them get to work. Decorating the Christmas tree takes much longer than either of them anticipated and even though Dan bitches the entire time, he really enjoys himself. One of his favorite Christmas pastimes had always been decorating the tree and this year, because of _her_ , he had denied himself of the pleasure of doing that. Because of _her_ he was determined to have a shitty Christmas alone - but then Phil happened, and suddenly his life because a cheesy made for TV romantic comedy. But he isn’t complaining. 

While they decorate the tree, they engage in more small talk only this time it’s way less awkward than it had been a few hours ago, the two of them starting to feel more comfortable around each other. And not only that, but they begin to learn the various things that they have in common - things like that they share the same favorite band, things like that they both spend ridiculous amounts of time on YouTube daily, things that made the other say “I thought I was the only one who did/liked that!” 

The longer they talk, the more Dan starts to believes that maybe, just maybe, he and Phil are a match made in heaven. That maybe something more could come of the two of them after today.

“Wow, it looks great!” Phil exclaims when they’ve finished decorating the tree. The last of the lights have been strung around the branches and Dan goes to plug them in. The tree lights up and shines brightly in Dan’s otherwise dark living room, and he smiles.

“Yeah,” he says. “It really does look great.” An idea strikes him a moment later, and he bends down to rummage through the box of decorations.

“What are you looking for?” Phil asks, kneeling down next to him.

“A star,” he says. “You know, for the top of the tree but,” he frowns a little. “I don’t think I got one. Damn it,” 

Phil looks through the rejected ornaments and baubles, and frowns as well. “Yeah, I don’t think you have a star.”

“I must’ve forgotten to get one,” Dan sighs. “Oh well, what can you do?” He shrugs and stands up, acting as if he isn’t bothered by the lack of star on top of their tree and he asks Phil if he would like something for dinner.

While Dan is in the kitchen looking for something to feed the two of them, and before he goes to join him, Phil finds a piece of scrap paper and quickly draws a star on it, cutting it out and taping it to the top of the tree. 

* * *

Since Dan lives like such a bachelor and most of his meals are takeaway or microwavable - although he to Phil that he actually can cook, he’s just far too lazy to - Christmas dinner ends up being half a box of leftover pizza and a bottle of red wine. 

The two of them curl up on the couch together with their extravagant Christmas dinner and Dan puts on The Nightmare Before Christmas, and ten minutes into the movie he can’t help but to ask, “So, is this the worst Christmas you’ve ever had?” 

Phil chuckles a bit. “No, not the worst,” he says. “I think the worst was when…” He pauses in thought for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “Ooh, I know - the worst Christmas ever was when my family and I all went away on holiday right before Christmas and our neighbors were supposed to watch over the house for us, and one day they must’ve forgotten to lock our backdoor so a bunch of random neighborhood animals got into the house and ate our Christmas dinner.”

Dan laughs loudly. “Oh my god, you’re joking.”

Phil shakes his head. “We had to have Chinese takeaway that night,” he says. “My mum was crushed.”

“That’s terrible,” Dan laughs, shaking his head. 

“Your turn - what’s your worst Christmas ever?” Phil asks him.   
“Hmm… I think my worst Christmas was when I knocked my dad’s new TV over with my ass,” Dan says and Phil bursts out laughing. “Yeah, that went about as well as you could expect.”

“Oh, god,” Phil brings his hand up to wipe away the laughter tears that have stained his cheeks. Once he composes himself he says, “Truthfully, this Christmas ended up being way better than I thought it would be.”

Dan scoffs. “Your expectations must’ve been pretty fucking low,” he says.

“They were,” Phil says, and Dan falls silent for a moment, the tone clearly shifted now because it’s more than obvious that something happened to ruin Phil’s holiday season - he just doesn’t know what.

“So,” Dan starts softly. “Have I unlocked your tragic backstory yet?” 

Phil doesn’t say anything for a moment, until he picks up his empty wine glass and goes to refill it, and then he says, “Maybe after this glass.”

* * *

The movie has ended and Dan and Phil are sprawled out on Dan’s living room floor, passing the wine bottle back and forth, despite the fact that the Christmas tree is becoming a bit of a blur for the both of them. 

Phil looks at Dan, really looks at him, and his a slight slur in his voice he says, “You have pretty eyes.”

Dan shakes his head in disagreement. “They’re not pretty; they’re like two black holes in my head,” he says. “ _You_ have pretty eyes.”

“Brown eyes are my favorite,” Phil says, and after another swig of wine he blurts out, “James had brown eyes.”

Dan raises an eyebrow. “Who’s James?” 

Phil sighs softly, going to sit up so he stops spilling wine down the front of his shirt, and he rubs his eyes as if he’s suddenly exhausted. “James was my best friend,” he starts. “We met in uni and he - he died last year. Well, a couple of months ago, but almost a year ago.”

Dan’s eyes are wide, but he doesn’t say anything. 

“It was sudden,” Phil continues. “Like, really sudden. So I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. And,” he sighs again. “And this is my first Christmas without him around. Not like we spent our Christmases together or anything, but Christmas without my best friend is just -” he stops himself, shaking his head a little as if he can’t even fathom this notion. 

“I - I’m so sorry, Phil,” Dan says, and he reaches for Phil’s hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Phil shrugs, but he squeezes Dan’s hand as well. “You don’t have to say anything,” he says simply. “I mean, words aren’t going to bring him back or make me miss him any less. It’s just something I need to learn to live with, you know? And everyone always said the first Christmas would be the hardest but damn, I didn’t think it would be this hard.” Phil falls silent for a moment. “That’s why I was out last night; I wasn’t in a very festive mood, and all I wanted to do was to get drunk and forget about being sad for one night.”

“Yeah,” Dan nods in agreement. “I understand.”

“I guess in a way, I sort of took advantage of you,” Phil admits. “Because I thought being with you would take my mind off of everything, you know, at least just for one night. So I wouldn’t have to be alone for one night.” 

“Don’t apologize,” Dan says before Phil even gets a chance to. “Because I basically did the same thing to you.”

“What do you mean?” Phil inquires.

Now, it’s Dan who sighs softly. “I… I lost somebody too.” he says. “Not in the same way that you did but I - yeah.”

Once again, the two of them are lapsed into a brief silence, neither of them knowing what to say, and Phil breaks the silence by says, “Alright your turn.”

He passes the bottle of wine to Dan, who takes it and repeats. “My turn?”

Phil nods. “Tell me why you were out at a bar on Christmas Eve.”

Dan brings the bottle up to his lips and takes a long sip of the alcohol before he starts off his sad story, “So, there was this girl - of course there was, that’s how every pathetic story starts off,” Dan rolls his eyes at himself. “Anyway, her name was Julia. My ex. We met at work and when I first saw her, I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.”

“Was it love at first sight?” Phil asks. 

“I don’t believe in love at first sight; the whole concept is bullshit to me,” Dan explains. “So, to answer your question, no it wasn’t. But after getting to know her, I did fall for her - hard and fast. Julia, on the other hand, took her time falling for me. She still went out with me though - I think she was with me mostly because she felt bad,” Dan shakes his head. “Because it was so fucking obvious how much I liked her,” he grumbles. “And it was so fucking obvious how much she _didn’t_ like me. But I pretended that everything was perfect between us. Until one day, I stopped pretending.”

Phil takes all of this in, Dan’s bitterness, the inevitable heartbreak this girl had brought upon him. “So, what happened?” he asks.

Dan doesn’t answer immediately; instead, he takes another long sip of wine and takes a moment to get his thoughts together. “One day, I woke up and she just wasn’t there,” he says. “All of her things were gone and all that was left was a note from her on her pillow. And that was that.” 

Phil opens his mouth to say something, but his jaw immediately clamps shut. He’s speechless when he hears this, unable to fathom his this could happen to someone. 

“You know, this Christmas we had plans to travel together,” Dan continues. “Somewhere warm where we could tan on a beach and share a drink with a straw in it. But she left around Thanksgiving and she took my Christmas spirit with her. Hence the reason I was out getting drunk on Christmas Eve looking for a quick fuck - no offense.”

“None intended,” Phil says softly, and the two of them are quiet. Not an awkward silence, but a silence nonetheless. The two of them had just opened up about some very personal things while at the same time, learned some very personal things about a new friend that neither of them had expected to make. And Phil breaks the silence by saying what’s on both of their minds: “We’re so fucked up.”

Dan chuckles lightly, nodding in agreement. “Must be why we fucked.”

“Yeah,” Phil agrees. “Must be.”

* * *

Dan’s drunk, no doubt about it. And Phil’s drunk as well. And he’s getting deja vu to the night before because he’s lying in bed with a man he barely knows - the only difference is, this time they’re both wearing clothes and Dan isn’t riding Phil’s dick into oblivion. 

And this time, Phil’s holding his hand, his thumb trailing lightly across his knuckles and it’s making the hairs on the back of Dan’s neck stand on end. “Do you believe in fate?” Phil asks him. 

“I don’t know what I believe in,” Dan replies. 

Phil doesn’t say anything at first. “I believe in fate,” he finally utters. “I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe,” he releases Dan’s hand to roll over on his side to face him. “That you and I were meant to meet last night.”

Dan mimics his actions, rolling over so he’s facing Phil as well and he says, “I believe you’re drunk.”

“Yes, I am,” Phil agrees. “But tomorrow, I won’t be drunk and I’ll still be happy that I met you.” He brings his hand up to gently stroke his cheek, and Dan’s heart starts beating hard and fast in his chest, and he doesn’t know why because this was supposed to be a no strings attached ordeal but now. Now there are strings, so many strings, and he and Phil are tied so tightly together, and Dan thinks he likes it. 

The two of them lean forward at the same time, and their lips touch and it’s nothing like their first kiss, a kiss driven by alcohol and frustration; no, this is a kiss full of romance and passion, and Dan figures that kissing Phil is better than any Christmas present he could’ve found under his tree. 

When the two of them pull away, Phil rests his forehead against Dan’s and says softly, “Merry Christmas, Dan.”

Dan smiles lightly, a blush dusting across his cheeks. “Merry Christmas, Phil,” he says. And yeah, maybe he doesn’t know what he believes in, but after the past forty-eight hours, he definitely believes in him and Phil.


End file.
